I really wanted to use this race to measure my progress. My goal was under 18:00 and top three. Two things I didn't count on . . . the course had two nasty hills, making it a little slower course than usual, and that the course would be cut short. I warmed up three miles around the stadium. Then did what felt like a million strides while a really long flag ceremony took place. The race started with a big cannon boom, which scared everyone. I took off hard. The race climbs less than a mile into the course, but there is a downhill on State Street after that. I tried to push this part hard, because I am a strong downhill runner. My first mile was 5:38, which was a bit off my goal pace of 5:45. I was hoping to be 11:30 through mile two, which was flat. At this point, Amber Andrews and Stefanie Talley had pulled away from me. I was running with Sariah Long through this mile. Imagine my surprise when I looked at my watch at mile two and saw that it was just rounding out to 10:00. I knew we were off, but I hoped that it would even out at the end. The last mile was tough with a slight uphill followed by a very large uphill to the stadium. I just tried to stay tough here and work up the hill. Sariah pulled ahead, but seemed to stay about the same distance ahead of me, which makes me wish I had been tougher and stayed with her. 10 seconds out of the money is not fun!!!
I knew the time was wrong when I ran under 17:00. But, I know that I have progressed well over the last four weeks. I need to increase mileage, add in some speedwork, and get consistent. Progress is not coming fast enough for me . . . but it is coming! | 